Dave R

A bit like this one..... which is supposedly a repurposed Western Bayonet blade!

I think I missed a couple there, but never mind, I think the point is made anyway. A replacement saya is a gamble with poor odds.

Having a bit more time I will go into more detail. Of the eleven saya I have bought off the market only the one wood and leather and two steel Gunto saya, were ready fits for spare blades I had. The wood and leather was a complete koshirae and all of it fitted the blade I had, saya and tsuka, which we all agreed in the local To-Ken club was a one in a million chance, never to be repeated. I bought a stack of three from Japan, one of them fitted a blade I had, and the other two fitted nothing, and still not with anything six years later. Non of the others fitted blades that I had already. So eleven saya, four fitted something. What I have done on three occasions is to split and re cut a random near fit saya to fit a blade, and I have repaired two damaged saya to hold their original blades safely. Repair is easier and more sure of a decent fit. (Apologies if the numbers are a bit confusing, I kind-a-got-lost-there-myself!)

Repair is always easier, and better than replace.

PS. I don't think the kneeling ladies are polishing, but doing some other job. No water vessel at the work station!

What I find interesting is that one photo shows the women working while sitting seiza (which is why I think it may be a posed shot) and in the other they are standing at a work bench! Reality versus propaganda? Last pic. is from the Mantetsu workshop.

I suggest this is done for the same reason the Riinji swords have double mekugi... They don't trust the fit of the wood to the metal. It takes skill, time and handwork all of which are costly in a factory situation!

It was often done as a "quick and dirty fix" on older Tsuka as well. Here's an stripped example in my collection. (Yep I buy shagged out pieces for the information they give.) From the dimensions of the reinforced core I reckon its for a remounted older blade.

They are usually what I have seen called "Kitchen Steel" or harihagane. They can have a hamon.

Stuff like this I tend to pack between two or three blocks of polystyrene with the item in a carved out shaped void in the sandwich. It's how the Chinese pack their replicas, and it works.

Looking at their popularity with Imperialists I suspect a bit of "historismus", a deliberate reference/homage to the very old style chokuto blades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokutō

I have found "Evaporust" to be an effective and safe de-ruster. The problem with the phosphoric acid based ones range from user safety to environmental damage via ruining the piece you are working on. I have had scarring from the old "Pink Jelly" that took years to disappear. https://www.evapo-rust.com/

The blessing and the curse of nihonto and gunto is that once the mekugi is removed, it's all yours to do with as you wish.... This includes swapping parts out to personal taste or replacement of the missing. The tsuba could be a replacement from any time since 1945.

A lot of conversation about these swords on here, some will be genuine Gunto and some the local made pseudo Gunto. Good luck telling which is which in blurry vintage photo's.

You have a nice Shinto blade in it's last ever set of user mounts,.... if they were ever such cheap Edo mounts you would have no second thoughts, but would value it for what it is. The last man to carry it in earnest was proud to be one of the "Emperors chosen companions" which was the official designation for a member of the IJA (as I understand it). The fact that it is all together after all these years tells you something about the regard in which its last legitimate owner held it. I would hang on to it, and I am not alone in my opinion.

This is one of those regular questions, and we all have our own opinions. Best general supplier of sword care products is https://www.namikawa-ltd.com/ if it's good enough for the imperial family, then it's good enough for anyone. Regarding oil, I use Kurobara, there are various suppliers of it, and it's the oil used by https://www.aoijapan.com/ in their sword care videos. Uchiko is "one of those things", and I heard it recommended by collectors, up until a few years ago, but not any more. The backyard cutters use it to clean their blades of sticky residue from plastic bottles and ties etc, but they are a special case. Otherwise received wisdom is don't touch a blade in polish with it, but uchiko the hell out of a blade in bad condition as opposed to using any other abrasive. Just my two-penny-worth.

For the touch hole, I suggest a silver insert screwed into a pre tapped vent, which was done with western flintlocks of the highest quality. Some even used platinum.

I remember the conversation, that was on here and I think on Japanese Militaria as well, but had nothing to contribute to it. I remember that one lead turned out to be about the unique Japanese anodisation process for aluminium that gave a yellow or golden finish.

Could be Suriage, or Machi Okuri. We really need more pics to help here. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/suriage.html#:~:text=The blade shortening work or,blade is called "Suriage".&text=It is done to shorten,a "Machi-okuri".

They turn up in "field mounts" quite a lot, that is the type 98 but with the leather covered wooden scabbard, and the origin of the infamous "Tanker sword". In the formal steel scabbard much more rarely but they are known There is a whole thread (or two) on this forum, and lots of discussion as to why! (I got this pic for my personal files from here or another forum, sorry not to credit properly).

Speaking as a well known sinner in this area, I would keep to the Shin-Gunto theme. A lot of the wooden saya for the Army were black, because they were going under field covers, so the colour didn't really matter. Stainless blades are also found in IJA mounts, and Ohmura http://ohmura-study.net/900.html has something to say about that. You will have your work cut out to find a genuine/decent IJN Tsuka, whereas nice original Army Tsuba are relatively easy and affordable.

Well done, everyone thinks it's easy until they do it. I have done a couple of tsuka, but frankly it is so hard on the hands that I won't do any more.

Personal opinion. Grip bindings, "tsuka Ito" were often done by teen schoolgirls in a factory. I suspect markings to help with the job, for untrained lasses working to a deadline.... or even a post war repair. (I am not an expert, I am a geek). I will make a post with all my trashed tsuka at some time if requested.

One like this?....